Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal to make Strikeforce debut at Heavyweight

While 205 pounds may very well be the weight class the flamboyant and always entertaining Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal chooses to call home in the future, FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently learned that his promotional debut in Strikeforce will in fact take place in the heavyweight division.

While nothing has been made official regarding the match-up as of this time, Lawal recently confirmed to 5 Oz. that both he and Mike Whitehead have verbally agreed to the proposed clash.

The two will face off during “Strikeforce: Evolution“, which has been set for December 19 from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, and will air live on Showtime.

Although Mo last competed at the heavyweight division and Whitehead previously fought at light heavyweight, apparently it was Whitehead’s wish that the fight between the pair take place at heavyweight.

A Big 12 Champion and Division I All-American wrestler out of Oklahoma State where he trained alongside fellow Strikeforce heavyweight Daniel Cormier, Lawal burst onto the MMA scene like a stick of dynamite a little over a year ago when he handed Travis Wiuff, a veteran of more than sixty fights at the time, his first loss in his previous nine bouts. Mo has established himself as one of the fastest rising prospects in the sport since that bout, compiling an unblemished record of 5-0 with four of those wins coming by either KO or TKO. The member of both Team Thirsty and Team GDP‘s last outing saw him dispatch of a much larger Mark Kerr in seconds with a huge slam and a series of punches during “M-1: Breakthrough“.

An accomplished wrestler in his own right, Whitehead was a former three-time Division I All-American before he made the transition to mixed martial arts back in May of 2000. Since that time Whitehead has put together an impressive record of 31-7 while notching victories over the likes of Ben Rothwell, Krzysztof Soszynski, and TUF 10‘s Zak Jensen along the way. Mike’s last outing was a unanimous decision victory over Kevin Randleman during “Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields” in June of this year.

5 Oz. had the chance to catch up with Mo this evening just before he was on his way out the door to hit the weights with “Minotauro” Nogueira and crew. Make sure to check back tomorrow for the conversation where Lawal discusses his choice to sign with Strikeforce, how he matches up with Whitehead, current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, the possibility of Dan Henderson making the big move, and much more.

He’s had some solid wins in Sengoku. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares against Whtehead, who has more experience and a better resume. They’re about the same height and about the same weight, so on paper they appear evenly matched. It’s interesting that the fight is at heavyweight, though, because both are on the small side of that weight class. I predict wild haymakers and wrestling and a decision.

xtreme_machine: What happen he does not want to face Gegard Mousasi or Hendo.
May be he will Sokoudjou or Babalu later on.

Cory Brade: “Although Mo last competed at the heavyweight division and Whitehead previously fought at light heavyweight, apparently it was Whitehead’s wish that the fight between the pair take place at heavyweight.”

Even if he does go back to LHW after this fight, I have a hard time giving him a shot at Mousasi unless he completely obliterates Whitehead.

Hendo might be a good fight since they both have big power and excellent wrestling, but I don’t think Strikeforce wants to put one of their fastest rising stars in King Mo up against someone as dangerous as Hendo just yet though. I think they’re probably going to give each of them a few “feeder” fights to get some hype behind them before they let them butt heads or contend for a title.